Palestinians to sue Britain over 1917 letter supporting Jewish national home

T. Belman. This is a shocker. The Right in Israel wants to stress our legal rights to the land starting with the Balfour Declaration. But Netanyahu shows no sign of doing so. You would think that Abbas is happy that he doesn’t do so. Yet, here is Abbas, thinking that the PA gains by attacking the Balfour Declaration rather keeping silent on what the Right think of as our trump suit.

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas conveys intent to sue U.K. over Balfour Declaration that expressed sympathy for the Zionist cause

By Daniel Siryoti, Shlomo Cesana, AP and Israel Hayom Staff

Israel blamed the Palestinian Authority of being “delusional” Monday after it said it would take the United Kingdom to court over the Balfour Declaration — a document from Nov. 2, 1917 expressing the U.K.’s support for a Jewish national home in “Palestine.”

Almost 100 years after Lord Arthur James Balfour, as foreign secretary, wrote that his government views “with favor the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people,” the Palestinian Authority said Monday that it would file a lawsuit against the U.K. over that letter, which was considered a major diplomatic victory at the time and a milestone in the history of the Zionist movement.

At an Arab League summit in Nouakchott, Mauritania on Monday, Palestinian Authority Foreign Minister Riad Malki asked other Arab nations to help the Palestinians take Britain to court on this matter.

Malki delivered a speech on behalf of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, spewing hate and incitement: “The damned Balfour Declaration was a fateful promise from the ones who don’t own to the ones who don’t deserve,” Malki said. “This damned declaration, and its implementation during the British Mandate are the reason for the calamity that befell on the Palestinian people, who were denied the opportunity to live in their homeland.

“Because of this declaration, hundreds of thousands of Jews arrived in Palestine from Europe and elsewhere. Then they expelled the Palestinian people’s forefathers, who had lived on their land and in their homeland for thousands of years,” he added.

In 2012, the U.N. General Assembly voted to accept “Palestine” as a non-member observer state, and later the PA signed the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. In the wake of those two developments, the PA has repeatedly stated that it would use its new status to put the legal spotlight on Israel, be it through international courts or in other legal and diplomatic forums. The proposal on Monday was the latest such effort.

If the lawsuit proceeds, it would imply a Palestinian claim over all of what was Mandatory Palestine, not just over Judea and Samaria. In some respects, Malki’s statement implies that Abbas and rival Palestinian faction Hamas are in lockstep when it comes to the territory they seek.

Malki said the Palestinians were actively trying to “reopen the files dealing with the Israeli crimes against our people since the end of the British Mandate, and the massacres in 1948 [when Israel declared independence] and the other crimes committed since.” He implored Arab states not to normalize relations with Israel as long as there was no independent Palestinian state, to prevent “another Palestinian catastrophe under the guise of regional security cooperation between Israel and the Arab states.”

Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan lambasted Abbas for Malki’s speech, tweeting that it was “delusional,” adding that “the overall direction it pointed at is not coincidental.”

Erdan then wrote: “The countdown has now officially begun toward the 100th anniversary of the declaration, and the 50th anniversary of the Six-Day War. The leader of the Palestinians has long ago lost any interest in peace. Do not be surprised if the lawsuit will soon include France, because it was party to the Sykes-Picot Agreement that led to the partition of this region. It appears that all is fair in the campaign of incitement and libel Abbas has been waging.”

 

July 26, 2016 | 7 Comments »

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7 Comments / 7 Comments

  1. Bear Klein Said:

    It is time to explain to our friends that the two state solution is a dead letter and we have rights to Judah/Samaria and all of the Land of Israel. We are going to exert some of those rights via extensive building and also apply Israeli Law to the Jewish Towns in Judah/Samaria.

    I suggest you explain it first to BB Netanyahu who has never in all his last two terms acknowledged those facts… not once has he ever stated:

    “JEWISH SETTLEMENT IN JUDEA SAMARIA IS LEGAL AND LEGITIMATE”

    Perhaps he will listen to you, he never listens to me…….perhaps a speech coach could help…. or maybe liberman could say it for him?

  2. @ Bear Klein:
    NOOOOOoooo!!! don’t tell them the two state solution is dead – keep them dwelling on their delusions or at least guessing. There is power in mystery!!
    The Israelis are playing just like the Japanese game: its real estate GO!!! the board game with 19 X 19 lines object is to capture territory. If you move to fast, they’ll catch on and make countermoves, which they are now starting to make with the help of the EU. Pals certainly will not spend their own money on land issues as they know they don’t own the land and the PA will not let them. You goal is laudable, but proceed cautiously.

  3. @ deanblake:Except building pace is too slow.

    It is time to explain to our friends that the two state solution is a dead letter and we have rights to Judah/Samaria and all of the Land of Israel. We are going to exert some of those rights via extensive building and also apply Israeli Law to the Jewish Towns in Judah/Samaria.

  4. @ Bear Klein:
    NOOOOoooo!!! Abbas and Arafat have been Israeli’s best friends. Don’t quit being a failure. The longer they stall, the more money they sock away in Swiss bank accounts, the more unhappy Western taxpayers will get, the more settlements get built and more land is returned to its rightful Jewish owners.
    Now that Arab oil is IRRELEVANT, diplomats have to adjust their thinking, but they have not. Time is on Israeli’s side.

  5. Abbas has tried rewriting history, terrorism, diplomatic warfare, and he is trying to turn back time with the threat of a lawsuit about what happen almost 100 years ago. He is a failure and nothing will come about to this his 999th different threat. He wants to get rid of Israel but can not and will not.

    He keeps threatening to quit. Nuh, I am still waiting, quit already.

  6. The more they talk about the Declaration, the more emphasis is given to it. Basic rule that the Israelis seem to violate in rhetoric is now being committed by Abbas, never repeat your enemy’s argument. The more you repeat it, the more weight it takes on!!

  7. Another “storm in a teacup” fabricated to obfuscate the under the table deals with BB and the gulf arabs… which basically maintain the status quo whereby the only actions taken by israel is against Abbas rivals. Abbas has to keep appearing relevant at a time where nothing meaningful will happen. Its like the faux state, the 9 mos talks, the prisoner releases, etc etc. In a pool where nothing happens drama must be fabricated and Abbas must he helped to appear to be fighting the big fight….. Abbas does the same for BB when they play the customs tax game of withhold and give.